Man sentenced to 8 years for attempted murder of son-in-law

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a June Criminal Court ruling, sentencing a man to eight years in prison after convicting him of attempting to murder his son-in-law in Irbid in March 2020.

The Criminal Court declared the defendant guilty of attempted murder on March 10, and handed him a 12-year prison term.

However, the court decided to reduce the sentence to eight years because the victim dropped the charges against the defendant.

Court papers said the victim and the defendant met in a town in Irbid Governorate to discuss marital problems.

"The defendant wanted to discuss some marital problems with the victim, who is his son-in-law, and the arguments became heated," the court documents said.

The defendant grabbed a pump action shotgun and fired several rounds at the victim’s vehicle, the court added.

“The bullets missed the victim, and only caused minor damage to his vehicle,” the court papers said.

The defendant contested his ruling via his lawyer, arguing that there were “legal errors in the investigation procedures”.

The prosecution, the lawyer argued, “failed to prove that my client was the one who fired the shots,” the court documents stated.

The Criminal Court’s attorney general asked the higher court to uphold the eight-year sentence.

The higher court ruled that the Criminal Court proceedings were accurate, and that the defendant was given the appropriate punishment.

The Cassation Court bench comprised judges Mohammad Ibrahim, Nayef Samarat, Hayel Amr, Ibrahim Abu Shamma and Mohammad Shareiri.